Despite initially being shown off as a concept product, Razer has now confirmed that it plans on actually selling its smart face mask that took the tech world by storm back at CES 2021. While CES 2021 was held as an all-digital event this year, it was still home to quite a few notable product announcements — with one of the biggest coming from Razer. Razer has made itself known for unveiling radical concept devices during CES, with past ones including a laptop that used a smartphone as its trackpad and a laptop with three displays.
For 2021, Razer used CES to showcase its smart face mask (also known as Project Hazel). Face masks have now become a staple of day-to-day life, and with the Razer smart mask, Razer aimed to make the smartest one yet. The Razer smart mask has a transparent design, a microphone and speaker system to amplify the wearer's voice, and (of course) RGB lighting on the sides.
The gadget was initially being pitched as a concept product from Razer, with the company offering no information about retail availability. Per a new report from Yahoo! Finance, Razer is now "fully invested in turning these masks into a reality and will go into production." Razer has been using some of its production facilities since January to help produce disposable face masks, but according to CEO Min-Liang Tan, the company "realized the sustainability aspect" of people using and throwing away disposable masks. With that in mind and the fact that face masks will likely continue to be a part of day-to-day life for a while to come, Razer has decided to push ahead with turning the smart mask into a real product. Tan says,"We were thinking, this is a concept project and is this going to be relevant when vaccinations and everything has been rolled out."
There's No Official Price Or Release Date For The Razer Smart Mask (Yet)
While it is pretty exciting to hear that Razer's smart mask has gone from a concept to a legitimate product, it's worth noting that there's still no clear ETA as to when it'll actually be available for customers to go out and purchase. While the mask does already appear to be a fully-realized product, Razer needs to get approval from the FDA, CDC, and/or OSHA before it can begin sales. Those approvals will likely take some time, but (hopefully) there will be a better understanding of availability in the coming weeks/months.
The other big question that remains is price. With features like the RGB lighting and voice amplifier, Razer's smart mask is bound to cost a lot more than normal face masks. While all of that tech is undeniably cool, it'll also come at a cost. It's difficult to pin down an exact price considering the mask is one-of-a-kind, so that's something else that's going to require a bit more patience.
Source: Yahoo! Finance